After years of delay, Landmark Center ready to launch

Published: Friday, August 15, 2014 at 06:51 PM.

FORT WALTON BEACH — After more than eight years of planning, negotiating and several ups and downs, land-clearing on the Landmark Center site is expected to begin soon.

Ft. Walton Development Partners, the group behind the Landmark Center, received their permit from the City of Fort Walton Beach last week to begin clearing the 2.1 acre site. Daher Contracting, the Fort Walton Beach firm contracted to clear the land, expects to begin mobilizing equipment this week.

“It should be soon, I just don’t have an exact date,” said Ryan Brown, project manager with Daher Contracting.

The Landmark Center already had a long and, for a development project anyway, turbulent history.

The original Landmark Center was announced in 2005 as a 12,000-square-foot retail building with a 40-space parking lot on the backside of the property and even went as far as receiving CRA approval. That project never got off the ground and the land was sold.

The new owners had grander plans for the property and announced a larger project that mixed retail, office and residential spaces. In fact, the only thing that remained the same was the name, Landmark Center.

Landmark Center seemed to be cancelled in 2010 and the property was put up for sale again, but Ft. Walton Development Partners brought the project back to life in 2012.

“I don’t like quitting,” said Ken Wright with Ft. Walton Development Partners. “Being a retired military officer, you have this mindset that you like to see the job and the mission done.

“More than anything, being a kid who grew up here, it’s really exciting to see how we maybe part of changing downtown’s businesses and we’re doing it in a big way,” he added. “We could have been doing a strip center years ago and moved on, but that wasn’t the best use.”

Announcements on some of the restaurants coming to the Landmark Center, which Wright said would rival Destin’s restaurants, could be announced in the near future.
Wright said interest in the Landmark Center has never been higher. When the 24 loft condominium units were put on the market, Ft. Walton Development Partners received nearly 20,000 inquiries from potential buyers. Wright said.

“We didn’t know there would be that much (interests),” Wright said.

Contact Daily News Business Editor Dusty Ricketts at 850-315-4448 or dricketts@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DustyRnwfdn.

Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published
without permission. Links are encouraged.

FORT WALTON BEACH — After more than eight years of planning, negotiating and several ups and downs, land-clearing on the Landmark Center site is expected to begin soon.

Ft. Walton Development Partners, the group behind the Landmark Center, received their permit from the City of Fort Walton Beach last week to begin clearing the 2.1 acre site. Daher Contracting, the Fort Walton Beach firm contracted to clear the land, expects to begin mobilizing equipment this week.

“It should be soon, I just don’t have an exact date,” said Ryan Brown, project manager with Daher Contracting.

The Landmark Center already had a long and, for a development project anyway, turbulent history.

The original Landmark Center was announced in 2005 as a 12,000-square-foot retail building with a 40-space parking lot on the backside of the property and even went as far as receiving CRA approval. That project never got off the ground and the land was sold.

The new owners had grander plans for the property and announced a larger project that mixed retail, office and residential spaces. In fact, the only thing that remained the same was the name, Landmark Center.

Landmark Center seemed to be cancelled in 2010 and the property was put up for sale again, but Ft. Walton Development Partners brought the project back to life in 2012.

“I don’t like quitting,” said Ken Wright with Ft. Walton Development Partners. “Being a retired military officer, you have this mindset that you like to see the job and the mission done.

“More than anything, being a kid who grew up here, it’s really exciting to see how we maybe part of changing downtown’s businesses and we’re doing it in a big way,” he added. “We could have been doing a strip center years ago and moved on, but that wasn’t the best use.”

Announcements on some of the restaurants coming to the Landmark Center, which Wright said would rival Destin’s restaurants, could be announced in the near future.
Wright said interest in the Landmark Center has never been higher. When the 24 loft condominium units were put on the market, Ft. Walton Development Partners received nearly 20,000 inquiries from potential buyers. Wright said.

“We didn’t know there would be that much (interests),” Wright said.

Contact Daily News Business Editor Dusty Ricketts at 850-315-4448 or dricketts@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DustyRnwfdn.